Areas of Expertise
Case Investigation
Summary: From Evidence Views and Analysis, to finding experts Mason Legal LLC has been a trusted ally to some of the biggest criminal defense firms in Oregon. We recently finished the case of OR v Jesse Johnson and the resulting Post Conviction Relief action that freed him. After working for 15 years on the case, Jesse Johnson was freed in 2024 after serving more than two decades on Oregon's Death Row. Johnson made national headlines when he walked free from the Marion County Jail. In cooperation with Innocence Project we spent hundreds of hours canvassing neighborhoods, conducting countless interviews, and providing key media evidence modeling, that showed what really happened the day that the murder took place in Salem Oregon. Both witness interviews and DNA tests excluded him as the person committing the heinous stabbing.
Mitigation
When prosecutors make their case, it's incumbent on the Defense to offer substantive mitigation on a guilty finding. Mason Legal has authored numerous mitigation reports for judges attempting to learn about the offender's past and what factors are relevant on sentencing. We take the sentencing process seriously and offer a complete view of the client's childhood, education and positive influence on the community. What was the client's family of origin like? What kind of life was the client leading prior to his arrest in the case at hand? These are all issues that State and Federal judges want to learn about prior to sentencing. In education at University of Oregon, Southern Oregon, and conferences through Oregon Criminal Defense Attorney Association, we have kept up on the latest work of top mitigators in the US and beyond.
Cold Vanish
Perhaps the most vexing of the areas we handle is Cold Vanish Investigation. When a loved one goes missing what are the issues at stake? The answers can haunt survivors for decades. Sometimes it seems the missing person just walks off the map, never to be seen again. But the possibilities are endless. Did they just fall and injure themselves? Did a sudden snowstorm just bury them and leave them to freeze to death? Did they step off a cliff never to be seen again? Were they victims of a natural death, or did they meet a human predator that killed them, then hid the crime? These are all issues that we exhaustively commit our work to. We never give up.